Student photographer for wedding

FirstTimer4Me

As were on a money saving site, this is quite appropriate.

We're getting married but rather not have the extortionate fees professional photographers charge, we we're thinking of hiring a student photographer, hopefully, fees will be lower.

Anyone know of any pitfalls using a student photographer, also, where would be the best place to find one?

TIA

harrys_dad

The main pitfall is paying less for someone less qualified and less experienced, then expecting them to produce the same standard of work as a professional photographer. I am Chairman of my local camera club and members are frequently being asked to do wedding photos by friends. Most of them avoid this like the plague, because whatever they say in advance the couple expect top notch pictures and express disappointment when they sometimes don't get them

Student photographers are also training to be professional photographers. They are encouraged not to undercut professionals earning a living, as they themselves might be undercut some day.

How important are your wedding photos? is this really the one area you want to risk compromising quality for finance? You will be looking at your photos for ever, you will soon forget what food you ate or wine you drank. Compromise elsewhere.

I am not a professional photographer, but when you consider their costs, such as equipment, training and time, their charges are not "extortionate". Do you have any idea how long it takes to produce a wedding album? Most of them are working for less than minimum wage.

lika_86

Pitfalls being little to no experience of shooting weddings and not being able to adjust for tricky lighting (churches, backlighting etc) in the same way that professionals can as they have oodles of experience, little experience dealing with the general public and posing people, ultimately a risk that you're unhappy and unable to do much about getting back the memories as images.

Most professionals charge what they do for a reason. Consider how important the photos are to you.

Gloomendoom

If you want the traditional type of wedding photo, you need someone who is quite assertive and used to herding cats. Not all students have the self confidence.

Being on a tight budget, I asked my sister, a pure amateur, to do ours. I don't regret it. Her laid back style suited our wedding ceremony and reception perfectly.

neneromanova

Don't do it! Pay the money. It's really not extortionate if you think about it. You pay thousands for a venue, dress, food etc that will last 1 day and you'll save money on photos that will last years that you can look back on and your children can look at as well.

I paid cheap and went for a student and they were rubbish. Family members photos were better than the official photographers. And I had seen "examples of their work" which looking back now, really weren't.

FreddieFrugal

I just collected photos from all the people who had taken them, picked out the best shots from all of those and used them to make our album - photobox

My Dad organised group photos and was sort of the official photographer - but I used a mix from everyone - luckily a few family members have very good cameras so there was a lot of good quality photos to choose from.

We love our wedding photo album

suejb2

When do you ever look at the wedding photos? Apart from the first time you receive them. I got married 16 years ago and cannot remember the last time I looked through the album.

I've taken the album out just to look for something else next they'll go in the loft en route to the shed no doubt.

I digress! Back to you post. I used a retired newspaper photographer cost £100 and a few pints though being a journalist's could he drink! Maybe ask at a night school, students there will be older so will have the confidence to rally the crowds.

Alternatively most people have cameras on their phones, I say most, as I don't. My daughter took some cracking photos at a wedding recently and the way you can edit them is brilliant. Create a Facebook page where guests can share them.

Gavin83

I'll agree with some of the others here. As someone also getting married soon I'd say the photographer is the last area you should cut back on. If you've literally run every other element of your wedding down to the least you can spend then great, go for it.

The photographer is actually a good portion of our wedding costs. Money well spent IMO.

onomatopoeia99

A student is unlikely to have insurance sufficient to restage the whole event if something goes wrong with their photos (e.g. corrupt memory card or similar). Would you be happy if they said "sorry, no photos, here's your money back?" or would you expect them to pay to hire the venue again, get all your guests back for the group shots etc?

Would you be happy if their work wasn't to the standard you were expecting and they just say "I'm a student, I charged you way under market rates, had you wanted £1000 quality photos you should have hired a £1000 photographer" ?

The same advice applies to finding someone on gumtree offering to do a wedding for £150. You only get what you pay for.

Gloomendoom

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

You only get what you pay for.

Not always true.

We paid absolutely nothing but received loads in return.

FirstTimer4Me

Thanks for the postings

Ways we can cut the costs down

Do we need an album, not necessarily, we can make our own.

Do we need a photographer for the whole day, not necessarily, probably, only 3 or 4 hours.

Students from a night school sounds appealing.